Flu season has arrived, and Santa Rosa County cares about employee health! This year we are introducing our flu shot incentive program. From now through November 30th, the first 200 employees to provide proof of having received a flu shot from any provider, including the Health Department, will receive a $10 gift card from Walmart. That’s right! Simply visit the provider of your choice, at your convenience, and bring/send proof of your vaccination to risk management or email the document to [email protected]. A proof of vaccination form is linked below: | |
Employees who wish to obtain the vaccine from the Health Department will need to schedule an appointment. Call 850-983-5200; select option 2 and indicate your choice of the Midway or Milton location. | |
|
WELLNESS CHECK BONUS REWARD
There is still time to get the Wellness Check Bonus Reward! Did You Know that Santa Rosa County will reward each employee that completes their annual physical, with a $25 gift card? Less than 40% of Santa Rosa County employees go for their yearly physicals. The failure to do so increases the overall group medical care costs, due to the need for emergency care or extended hospitalizations from untreated health conditions.
Be proactive with your medical care and be rewarded! Download the form below and take it with you to your annual physical. Return the completed form via interoffice courier, mail with “Attention Risk Management” to 6495 Caroline Street, Suite I, Milton, FL 32570, email to [email protected] or fax it to 850-983-1868 to get your gift card!
| * All programs/incentives/opportunities will be funded through health insurance refunds/rebates. Each program will be reviewed annually and renewed based on participation, effectiveness and available funding. | |
|
Santa Rosa County staff attended the 2023 Health Fair on Nov. 2. The Fair was host to an abundance of health-related services and opportunities for our employees. If you didn't have a chance to check out the health fair, contact Gwen Wilson for information.
Check out some photos of the health fairs below:
| |
|
We will announce raffle winners in next month's edition of the employee newsletter
Congratulations to everyone who won a raffle prize! Thank you to everyone who attended and helped organize for making this year's Health Fair a BLAST!
| |
|
KUDOS
IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area announced the eleven grant recipients selected at this year’s Annual Meeting held today. These nonprofit organizations each received a grant of $108,364 from the members of IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area.
Santa Rosa County 4-H Association received a grant from IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area for their Santa Rosa County 4-H To Make the Best Better: Finish the 4-H Field Education Facility.
Congratulations and great job to Prudence Caskey and Mary English for this outstanding award.
| |
|
Sabrina White celebrated a big birthday in October, and her coworkers went all out to show her how special she truly is.
Check out the awesome signs that were out in front of the administrative building and the decorations in her office. Shout out to the budget staff for showing so much love.
We all adore you and all you do for the county Sabrina, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
| |
|
|
FURRY FEATURE
Hey everyone, my name is Candy, and it is because I am the sweetest! I am about 3 years old and weigh about 45 pounds. I get along well with other dogs. I was found as a stray, and no one came to claim me. I am hoping to find my forever home soon. If you want to meet me, just stop on by the shelter. It will be the best decision you make!
Candy will be visiting county offices Fri., Nov. 17.
| |
|
SANTA ROSA COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES RECOGNIZED FOR MAINTAINING
HIGH SAVE RATE
Santa Rosa County Animal Services maintained no-kill status in 2022, according to Best Friends Animal Society’s annual data report. This means the shelter saved more than 90% of the dogs and cats that entered the shelter last year.
A 90 percent save rate is the nationally recognized benchmark to be considered “no-kill,” factoring that approximately 10 percent of pets who enter shelters have medical or behavioral circumstances that warrant humane euthanasia rather than euthanizing for lack of space.
"We work hard to find loving homes for every animal who comes through our doors, here at Santa Rosa County Animal Services," said Randy Lambert, SRCAS Chief. "We couldn't maintain this successful save rate without our awesome community of volunteers, fosters, donors and our wonderful staff."
SRCAS has worked hard to implement a variety of programs that help the community's most vulnerable animals have happy outcomes. From the robust volunteer program to the foster program, these opportunities allow the shelter to leverage the community's passion for helping these furry friends to ensure the best outcomes.
With these programs, SRCAS uses local and national partnerships to provide low-cost options to families wishing to adopt, spay/neuter, and microchip. These partnerships allow families to take home new furry family members, ensure they're reunited with lost furry family members and protect the community from overpopulation.
Best Friends Animal Society, a leading national animal welfare organization dedicated to ending the euthanasia of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025, recognizes this achievement as a positive step forward and one that can be replicated by other shelters in Florida.
To learn more about Santa Rosa County Animal Services visit www.santarosa.fl.gov.
About Santa Rosa County Animal Services
Santa Rosa County Animal Services' mission is to build a society in which every animal is treated with compassion; we provide humane shelter and care for the approximately 3,500 lost, displaced and victimized animals who enter our doors every year. Our services protect animals and educate the community through outreach, intervention, and enforcement.
About Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Animal Society is a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025. Founded in 1984, Best Friends is a pioneer in the no-kill movement and has helped reduce the number of animals killed in shelters from an estimated 17 million per year to around 378,000. Best Friends runs lifesaving programs across the country, as well as the nation’s largest no-kill animal sanctuary. Working collaboratively with a network of more than 4,200 animal welfare and shelter partners, and community members nationwide, Best Friends is working to Save Them All®. For more information, visit bestfriends.org.
For other pet help resources, visit www.santarosa.fl.gov/animals.
| |
|
HALLOWEEN AT DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Congratulations to Roger Burton, plans examiner in building inspections, in placing first for his rendition as Bob Ross in the annual Development Services costume contest!! Roger gets to exhibit the well-sought-after trophy and bragging rights this next year.
Check out all the other spooktacular competition below!
| |
|
In honor of Lucinda Diamond, permit tech with Building Inspections, the Development Services team celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness and
her one year of being cancer-free!
| |
|
KUDOS
Kaz Szymoniak and Chad Nowling received a Thank You card from Sharon and Jen of Ocean Hour FL for the awesome and educational landfill tour.
Great work Kaz and Chad!
| |
|
|
HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTER AMNESTY DAY IN THE SOUTH END
The Environmental Department in partnership with Okaloosa County held an Amnesty Day at the Gulf Breeze Community Center on Sat., Oct. 21, from 8 a.m. until noon. This event is held twice a year in the South End of the County to help alleviate South End residents from having to drive to our Household Hazardous Waste Facility in Milton at the Central Landfill to dispose of unwanted hazardous waste. The Spring event is normally held at the South End Annex and the Fall event is held at the Gulf Breeze Community Center.
This year 242 Santa Rosa County citizens came and disposed of unwanted tires, electronics, fluorescent light bulbs, numerous chemicals, assorted batteries, propane tanks, paint, gas, oil, antifreeze, and sharps containers….to name a few!! This event is always a WIN-WIN for everyone. We look forward to these events and hope they encourage the proper disposal of household hazardous waste.
Thank you to everyone and great job to the Central Landfill staff for another SUCCESSFUL event!
| |
|
WASTE TIRE AMNESTY DAY AT THE CENTRAL LANDFILL
The Environmental Department hosted a Waste Tire Amnesty Day event at the Central Landfill on Sat., Oct.21, 2023. It was a HUGE success, the Central Landfill took in 1045 tires and our employees worked hard as always!!
Thank you to everyone and great job to the Central Landfill staff for another SUCCESSFUL event!
| |
Congratulations
To the following employees who reached milestones in October 2023!
1 Year Anniversary
Scottie Cook, Equipment Operator II
Deborah McDougall, Administrative Assistant
Jeramey Land, Landfill Equipment Operator III
Cassie Lee, Administrative Assistant
Kelli Simpson, Animal Control Officer I
Roger Burton, Construction Plans Examiner
Wendy Godwin, Program Technician I
3 Year Anniversary
Jennifer Peters, Veterinary Technician I
Tony Nall, Facility Technician II
Brandon Brosnaham, Grants and Special Programs Specialist
John Haynie, Transportation and Traffic Operations Specialist
Matthew Crews, Landfill Equipment Operator III
Mary English, 4-H Program Assistant I
Michael A. Kendrick, Equipment Operator II
7 Year Anniversary
Shelley Alexander, Environmental Programs Coordinator
Edwin Sculley, Equipment Operator III
Judy Greco, Program Technician I
Jerry Hatfield, Equipment Operator II
10 Year Anniversary
Casandra Houk, Reference Specialist
Jesse Williams-Houchin, Computer Programmer/System Analyst
25 Year Anniversary
Shawn Jarrell, Emergency Management Operations Chief
John Barnes, Field Inspection Supervisor
Tambre Lee, Building Official
Karen Thornhill, Floodplain Manager
Congratulations
To the following employee who retired in September 2023!
Sonja Lusk, Program Technician II
Welcome
To our new employees hired in September 2023!
Robert Sizemore, Communications Specialist I
Scott Miller-Dunaway, Parks Maintenance Technician I
Roger Bell, Landfill Equipment Operator II
Bryce Lett, Library Assistant I
Tesla Weathers-Orr, Animal Control Dispatcher
| |
WELCOME
The Human Resources Department is pleased to welcome Brittany Weaver to our team today as the Human Resources Analyst. Brittany has relocated from Idaho and brings with her a degree in technology, as well as a bachelor’s degree in human resources, which she is set to complete in February 2024. With Brittany’s administrative experience and a background related to Human Resources, we are thrilled to have someone with exceptional communication and customer service skills join us.
Brittany’s primary responsibilities will include managing the pre-employment and hiring process, conducting new hire orientations for our recently hired county staff members, as well as assisting with employment applications to ensure minimum qualifications are met. We encourage you to meet Brittany and extend a warm welcome. Please feel free to drop by the Human Resources Office to introduce yourself and join us in welcoming Brittany to our amazing county team, dedicated to serving our community - committed to excellence.
Welcome to the team, Brittany!
| |
|
HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES
IT/GIS held a Halloween potluck and costume contest.... the food and costumes did not disappoint!
Check out the contest winners below:
| |
|
Most Creative Costume:
GIS Map Layers
Brandon Brosnaham
Kyle Holley
Lani Burritt
Miranda Sargent
Naisy Dolar
| |
|
Best Group Costume:
Golden Girls
Brandy Kea
Dannie Rodriguez
Sabrina White
Susan Howell
Tiffany Nolan
| |
|
Scariest Costume:
Scary Clown
Katrina Penton
| |
|
Funniest Costume (Tie):
Russell from the movie Up
Deb Grinde
| |
|
Funniest Costume (Tie):
Mike from Mike's Weather Page and a spaghetti Model
Sarah Whitfield
Brittany Ellers
| |
|
Funniest Costume
Tired mama
Victoria Hawsey
| |
Check out the other awesome costumes below: | |
Thank you to everyone who attended and brought their delicious dishes. Great job to Tina English and the IT/GIS team for throwing an awesome party! | |
|
KUDOS
Family History & Research Center / Library Administration
Cassie Houk and Sarah Feher received a comment card from a patron who stated, “All parties were kind and extremely helpful.”
Milton Library
“Allison, Zack, and the rest of the staff made STEAM night a blast!”
“Allison is so kind. I love how she puts so much time into STEAM Day.”
“We love STEAM Day! Allison does a great job!”
“Mrs. Allison does a wonderful job! We love STEAM and movie nights. We love Storytime with Ms. Mary.”
“Everyone that works here is amazing!”
“All of your staff here are amazing, friendly, very informative, and helpful.”
Navarre Library
“Erica assisted me wonderfully today with copies.”
“Brandon and Erica always help me out beautifully when I come to the library. Thanks for providing excellent customer service.”
“Very kind and awesomely helpful staff! Thank you again!”
Pace Library
“Diana was such a humongous help to me today!”
“Aryka was very helpful.”
| |
|
A STEMI (ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction) is the most severe type of heart attack. A heart attack or myocardial infarction happens when an artery supplying blood to the heart suddenly becomes partially or completely blocked by a blood clot.
When a 911 call is placed for a patient with chest pains or other related heart attack symptoms, EMS, on-scene, will determine if a STEMI alert is needed. Once the determination is made, 911 dispatch will alert the hospital to get the Cath Lab Team ready so the patient can be treated as soon as possible. Every minute counts for a heart attack patient, the goal is to get them treatment within 90 minutes. The following successful STEMIs resulted in both patients receiving treatment within the 90 minute window and entering recovery.
| |
Great job to Chris Hall, April Miller, Amanda Anderson, Anaya Rich and Chrissy Wright. | |
Great job to Sean Kahalley, Danny Wolfe, Esna Cluck and Heather Brill. | |
|
CONGRATULATIONS
Tim Trowbridge is celebrating his one year with Santa Rosa County Emergency Management.
Congratulations Tim!
| |
|
Shawn Jarrell is celebrating 25 years with Santa Rosa County.
Congratulations Shawn!
| |
|
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FALL SAFETY FESTIVAL SUCCESS
We would like to give a HUGE thank you to our community partners and volunteers for really making the Fall Safety Festival FUN!
Shout out to Santa Rosa County Public Works and Environmental departments, Santa Rosa County FL Citizen Corps, OneBlood, Santa Rosa County Animal Services, RideOn Together, Lifeguard Ambulance Service of Santa Rosa County, Florida, RSVP of Santa Rosa County, 211 Northwest Florida, Santa Rosa County Veterans Services, Santa Rosa County Library System, Santa Rosa Kids' House, Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office FL, US National Weather Service Mobile Alabama, Avalon Fire-Rescue District, Bagdad Fire Rescue, and Florida Forest Service - Blackwater Forestry Center.
We also want to thank our community for coming out and supporting your Public Safety team, along with all the awesome organizations that support us. Hopefully, you all had just as much fun as we did!! Finally, we want to thank our AWESOME EM and PIO staff for organizing such a great event, providing dispatch tours, giving mini-CPR training and so much more!
Those who attended had a chance to tour our dispatch center and vote for the best dispatch station Halloween decorations.
| |
|
DISPATCH DECORATING CONTEST WINNERS
We've got (Halloween) spirit, yes we do! We've got (Halloween) spirit, how about you?! Every year, each dispatch shift decorates a station in a little friendly competition. They come up with some pretty creative ways to display their Halloween spirit, so we thought why not let the people decide who has the best decorations?
We posted the decorations to Facebook and had the folks who came to the Fall Safety Festival vote for their favorite decorations. The people (and the judges) have spoken, and it's time to announce the dispatch decorating contest winners.
| |
|
Station 1: Scooby-Doo won People's Choice
Congratulations to the artistic A-shift, Amanda, Anaya, April, Chris, and Chrissy, who pulled together an outstanding rendition of Scooby-Doo!
| |  |
|
Station 4: Gore won Judge's Choice!
Excellent execution to the creative crew on C-shift, Adam, Melissa, Cody, Daniel, Rob and John, who came up with the gore decorations.
| | |
|
Click the image above to watch a video of all the decorations.
We also want to thank all our Facebook friends and those who came to the Fall Safety Festival to vote for the People's Choice.
Great job to al the dispatch staff on their decorations!!!
| |
|
Last year, emergency management and dispatch team members started a tradition of decorating pumpkins to raise money for the animal shelter, this year, they want to invite everyone in the county to join!
For just a $5 donation to animal services, you can enter the pumpkin decorating contest to win some really cool prizes. Pumpkins can be live or fake and decorated with any theme, but the overall competition theme is Fall Harvest. There is some pretty stiff competition with our incredibly talented dispatch team, but the funds all go to a great cause!
Participants are asked to bring their entry fee and decorated pumpkin to the EOC, 4499 Pine Forest Road in Milton, by Wed., Nov. 15. There will be prizes for first, second and third places. Winners will be announced Fri., Nov. 17 and winners can pick up their prizes and pumpkins.
Anyone is welcome to stop by and vote for pumpkin winners, each vote for a pumpkin is $1. The first-place winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card, the second-place will receive a $15 Starbucks card and the third-place winner will receive a $10 Dollar General gift card.
All proceeds from this competition will be donated to the Santa Rosa County Animal Shelter. Check out last year's winners, pictured below, for a little inspiration!
| |
|
2022 1st place winner:
Olivia, Natashia Duke's Daughter
| |
|
2022 2nd place winner:
Natashia Duke, 911 Assistant Training/QI Coordinator
ENP, EMD-Q, Communication Spec II, CCEMT-P
| |
|
2022 3rd place winner:
Eva Grumbir, Communication Specialist I
| |
|
KUDOS:
Mrs. Linda Cupach called in to give a big thank you to the patch crew that patched the potholes she had requested on her road. She stated that they went above and beyond. That crew consisted of Travis Moore and Victor Samford.
Steven Cody called in to thank the crew that repaired his damaged driveway entry. He stated that it is better than new! The crew that performed that work was Ben Love, James Davis, and led by zone foreman Jared Beers.
Public Works received a call from Mrs. Linda Shah calling to thank Mike Mulford and the crew that cut her area retention pond. Greg Creekmur, Hunter Davis, Jackie Fields, Sean Harris, Justin Huggins, and Orlando Wallace were all part of the crew that cut the pond.
Mrs. Penny Wilson emailed in to Thank Brandy Wallace for pointing her in the right direction for her issue. She stated- “I couldn’t have done it without you. I’m grateful.
Justin Medlin emailed into Public Works thanking the crew that cut the pond near his residence. The crew that cut the pond was Greg Creekmur, Hunter Davis, Jackie Fields, Justin Huggins, and Orlando Wallace and directed by Supervisor Keith Faulk.
Mary Ellen Harrelson called to say Thank you to the guys who came and sprayed out all of the ditches in her area. She said that they did a wonderful job and that she couldn’t believe how fast they did the work. That work was completed by Michael Penton and Jared Beers.
| | |
|
Jason Beck emailed in to thank Public Works and the crew that cut back brush on the county property near his residence. He stated- “I just wanted to leave a thank you for clearing the brush by my house. It is greatly appreciated!!!! That work was performed by Sean Harris, Jackie Fields, Justin Huggins, Greg Creekmur, Hunter Davis, Orlando Wallace, and Keith Faulk.
Penny Duffey emailed in stating- “I just wanted to say thank you so much for the work being done on Hwy 399 (East Bay Boulevard). It has made a huge difference, and I am so grateful.”
Cris Godwin emailed into Public Works stating- “This applies to every one from Wendy, Jessicca, Andrew and of course, the Road & Bridge crew that did the actual work.
Job well done!!! They went above and beyond what I was hoping to take place for the work done at the intersection of Ty Lane & Tidwell Road. The crew that performed the work was made up of Asa Barnes, Joey Edwards, Michael Hart, Ricky Renfroe, Joe Vance, and Chris Hudson.
Mac Spann emailed into the Public Works office to thank the crew that performed his requested work on cleaning the ditches. That work was performed by Terry Bell and Ross Holley and directed by area foreman Wes Wells.
| |
|
CURRENT PROJECTS & EVENTS
An update on the current large-scale project being performed by the Bridge Crew is that they have completed the easternmost Sellersville Rd bridge. The second and western Sellersville Rd bridge was completed on 10/25/23. A big kudos to the Bridge Crew and the number of hours they put in to get both of these completed promptly.
All normal operations continue. Our road paving operations continue as we make progress on this year’s re-paving list. We have re-surfaced the following roads: Rose St, Big Oak Loop, Emerson St, Rodebush Ln, Joppa Football Field Parking Lot, the section of East Bay Blvd, and the turning on Anderson Ln to turn on to Willard Norris Rd.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words so, enjoy the pictures and see what’s going on in the Public Works Department.
| |
Inmate crew mowing Haley Way retention pond | |
Inmate crew mowing Haley Way retention pond | |
Inmate crew mowing Turkey Oak Dr retention pond | |
The Records Management Liaison Officer is proud to report that the board of county commissioner offices properly disposed of 194.65 cubic feet of records for FY 22/23. A letter-sized banker box will hold 1.08 c.f. of records, resulting in a little over 180 letter-sized boxes being disposed of. Great job to the following departments! | |
| Divisions | Cubic Feet properly disposed of | | Services & Community Relations | 28.12 | | Community Services | | | Veterans Services | 14.88 | | Information Technology & GIS | | | GIS/Software | 3.24 | | Office of Management & Budget | | | Grants | 10.00 | | Operations & Development | 166.53 | | Development Services | | | Planning & Zoning | 125.06 | | Housing | 20.52 | | Public Works & Environmental | | | Environmental | 16.42 | | Navarre Beach | 4.03 | | Mosquito Control | .50 | | |
| | |
|
Reducing paper documents and utilizing electronic formats creates improved productivity and an uncluttered working environment.
If you want to free up space from paper records, reach out to Tammy Simmons at [email protected] for guidance.
| |
|
In October, the TDO began planning Snowbird season events. Each year, Santa Rosa County sees many snowbird visitors who spend the winter months vacationing in our area. To accommodate, we offer them a variety of craft classes, lectures featuring special guest speakers, tours of local attractions, and other engaging activities to keep them having fun. We look forward to officially kicking off our Snowbird event season in January!
The TDO saw an enthusiastic response from community partners and local businesses in delivering hundreds of flyers, menus, coupons, and other goodies to include in our snowbird swag bags. We were able to build over 200 bags and distribute them to area campgrounds to officially welcome our winter visitors.
Our 20th Annual Beaches to Woodlands program continues to be a great success. Event calendars were periodically distributed throughout the county to boost exposure and visitation rates. Our staff attended several events and gathered some great content. The fall season brought pleasant weather and lots of fun events to the area celebrating local culture, live music, tours, and seasonal happenings. Check out our newly designed website for up-to-date event information as we approach the holiday season.
| As always, follow our social media channels for fun and inspirational content highlighting unique features of Navarre Beach and local businesses. Find us at Relax in Navarre Beach on Facebook and Instagram. | |
|
KUDOS
A veteran spouse gave the following kudos to Laurie and Cassie, "she is very happy with the Milton office, both of you ladies are very nice, wonderful, and quick on replies. We both feel seen and heard by your office and we greatly appreciate you both."
Great job Cassie and Laurie!
| |
Newsletter Survey
Have any recommendations or ideas? Is there something you would like to see more or less of? Let us know how you feel about the monthly employee newsletter. www.surveymonkey.com/r/SRCnewsletter
Join us next time...
This is a friendly reminder that all kudos and family forum information is due by the 25th of each month. Be sure to send it to Brittany Ellers or Sarah Whitfield to be included in the next employee newsletter. Thank you!
| | |
Our Company | Contact Us | FAQs | Privacy Policy |
| | | |
